Leftover Ham and White Bean Soup

We always buy WAY too much meat at the holidays and I struggle to find recipes to reinvent my leftover ingredients so we don't waste food.  I found this recipe on my neighbor's blog and modified it just a bit.  We had this at Christmas (I made it and simmered without the spinach in the crock pot all day) but the GREAT part about this recipe is it literally takes 30 mins to make!  I got home from the store with the kids at 5 pm today, put all my groceries away and then made this soup and was eating a bowl by 6 pm!  I added extra stewed tomatoes, doubled the chicken broth, and added an extra can of beans - so we would have a big batch of soup.  I'm planning to freeze the remainder in individual portions.  This is absolutely delicious.  My neigbor omitted the tomato and used carrots instead. The link above will take you to her version.

Ingredients:

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 large onion, diced
2.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 14.5oz. can stewed tomatoes, coarsely cut

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth ( I added until the soup was the desired consistency)
3 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2-lb piece baked ham (sliced 3/4 inch thick), cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used quite a bit of leftover ham from Easter dinner)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
10 oz spinach (roughly torn)

 

Directions:

1. In a large pot, sauté the chopped garlic and onion in 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil over moderately high heat until the onions turn golden (approx. 3-5 minutes).
2. Add the  cut stewed tomatoes and juice to pot and stir.
3. When the juice starts to simmer, add the beans, ham and black pepper.
4. Add the chicken broth, stir and bring to a boil.
5. When the broth starts to boil, reduce the heat until it settles at a simmer.
6. When the soup is simmering, pile the spinach on top of the pot to steam the spinach. As the spinach starts to wilt, stir it into the soup and turn off the heat.
7. Serve immediately.

Sourdough Pizza Crust

Still looking for good ways to use my sourdough starter that don't require a lot of rise.  We typically have pizza once a week so it seemed like a good time to try this and see how it turned out.  I am pairing it with an all organic salad (and maybe some wine!).  This is another recipe from Kitchen Stewardship.  Once you have par-baked the crusts, they freeze well for future last minute dinners!

Ingredients:

1.5 C “discarded” sourdough starter
1 T olive oil
1 t salt
1 – 1.5 C whole wheat flour

Instructions:

1. Mix the ingredients together, working in flour until you have a soft dough.  If it gets too dry add more starter or water.
2. Once kneaded, cover and let rest for half an hour.
3. After resting, roll out the dough on your silicone baking sheet or baking stone.
4. Transfer the silicone baking sheet with the dough onto the baking pan. 
5. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out and leave at room temperature for at least seven hours.  The crust will rise some as it soaks.
6. Seven or more hours later, heat the oven to 450 degrees F.
7. Bake the crust for 5 minutes. 
8.  Then add sauce and desired toppings to pizza.  Put pizza back in oven for about 10 minutes                 until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. 

Lemon Artichoke Chicken

This recipe is from the Jan/Feb 2009 Clean Eating Magazine.  I have tons of fresh lemons that I need to use up before they spoil, so I went in search of a healthy chicken recipe that involved lemon. Boy is this one yummy! This was really lemon-y so you have to like lemon! I would probably tone down the lemon juice by subbing some additional chicken stock on the next go round. I paired it with whole wheat penne pasta (mainly  because I'm working on a sourdough starter and wanted the starchy water to "feed" my starter tomorrow.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 Tbsp dried oregano

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp sea salt or coarse kosher salt, plus additional for seasoning (to taste)

1 lb thin chicken cutlets

olive oil cooking spray

1/2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, cut lengthwise and thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (I used more like 1/2 cup, and would actually use more next time in place of some of the lemon juice)

1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped into smaller pieces

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons) (I would actually use a bit less of this and more chicken stock)

1 tsp lemon zest ( I omitted this)

Directions:

1.In a shallow bowl, thoroughly combine flour, oregano, pepper and 1/4 tsp salt.  Dredge each chicken cutlet in flour mixture, shake off excess and place on a plate. 
2. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium to medium high, so skillet is hot but not smoking.  Add  the chicken cutlets and cook 3-5 minutes per side, until lightly browned and cooked through.  Transfer to a clean serving plate . You may have to cook cutlets in shifts depending on the size of your skillet.  Cover your serving plate with foil to keep the chicken warm.  
3. Adjust temperature to medium-low and heat oil.  Place onion in pan and cook, stirring frequently until soft and golden, about 5-6 minutes.
4. Add garlic, cooking for 1 minute, stirring constantly
5. Add the chicken broth, bringing it to a simmer
6. Add the remaining ingredients: artichokes, lemon juice and zest, simmering for 2-3 minutes until heated through and slightly thickened.   Pour artichoke mixture over chicken cutlets and pasta.

Nutrients per serving (4 oz chicken, 1/2 cup artichoke mixture): Cals: 220, Total Fat: 4.5g, Sat Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Omega-3s: 90mg, Omega-6s: 700mg, Carbs: 20g, Fiber: 2g, Sugars: 2g, Protein: 27g, Sodium: 420 mg, Cholesterol: 65mg

Clean Skillet Ginger Lime Cilantro Chicken

Another excellent recipe from Clean Eating Magazine's website.  This was really delicious! I could imagine subbing tofu for the chicken and still having some great flavors to work with. In fact, I rarely enjoy left-overs ( yes, I know it's wasteful - luckily hubby does do pretty well eating left-overs)...I reheated this for lunch today and it was fantastic! The flavors had time to ruminate, and it made a great lunch! It probably looked better when we initially ate it, but I didn't take a photo. Sorry!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz vermicelli or whole-wheat angel hair pasta (dry)
• 2 tsp peanut oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (used organic ginger, grated fresh)
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces (anti-biotic free meat)
• ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil (only had regular not toasted - used organic sesame oil)
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice(used organic limes)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (used organic cilantro)
• ¼ cup chopped scallions (white and green parts) (used organic scallions)
• Lime wedges for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, heat peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger, and cook 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add reserved cooking water, soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. Bring to a simmer. Add pasta and cook 1 minute to heat through, stirring frequently.
3. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and scallions. Serve with lime wedges on the side, if desired.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

• Calories: 408
• Total Fat: 8 g
• Sat. Fat: 1 g
• Monounsaturated Fat: 2.5 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g
• Carbs: 49 g
• Fiber: 6 g
• Sugars: 3 g
• Protein: 35 g
• Sodium: 687 mg
• Cholesterol: 66 mg

Homemade Pizza

My neighbor recommended this recipe.  She is an amazing cook! Unfortunately my dough didn't "rise" much - not sure if it's my yeast or what happened.  Anyhow, the crust did taste really delicious, more like a flat bread than a thick fluffy crust - but that's ok.   I subbed ground flax seed for the wheat germ.  We topped with Muir Glen Organic Tomato and Herb sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh organic basil, and some garlic.  Hubby and I each loaded our own toppings on - mine was all veggies - tomato, black olives, mushrooms.
These were her directions which I followed (mostly, my changes in parenthesis)

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast (.25 ounce)
1 c. warm water
2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. wheat germ (I subbed ground flax here)
1 tsp. salt (used celtic sea salt)
1 tbsp. honey (used raw organic honey)

Toppings:
Any veggie or fruit
Organic tomato sauce, try Muir Glen or make your own
fresh mozzarella
organic fresh basil
organic/grass fed/free range meat toppings (or no meat)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place warm water in small bowl.  Add yeast.  Allow the yeast to dissolve and set aside until mixture becomes creamy (appx. 10 minutes).
In a large mixing bowl, combine wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt.  Scoop a well in the middle of the mixture and add the honey and yeast mixture.  Stir until ingredients are well combined.  Cover mixture with a dishtowel or plastic wrap and sit in a warm place and allow to raise for approximately 5 minutes.
Roll dough on a floured pizza pan.  Using a fork, poke a few holes in the dough.
Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until desired crispness (I drizzled with olive oil half way through). Top with toppings and finish baking (another 10 mins or so to melt and soften all the veggies)